Basic Concepts of Wireless Sensor Networks
Lina M. Pestana Leão de Brito, Laura Margarita Rodríguez Peralta · IGI Global eBooks · 2008
As with many technologies, defense applications have been a driver for research in sensor networks, which started around 1980 due to two important programs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): the distributed sensor networks (DSN) and the sensor information technology (SensIT) (Chong & Kumar, 2003). However, the development of sensor networks requires advances in several areas: sensing, communication, and computing. The explosive growth of the personal communications market has driven the cost of radio devices down and has increased the quality. At the same time, technological advances in wireless communications and electronic devices (such as low-cost, low-power, small, simple yet efficient wireless communication equipment) have enabled the manufacturing of sensor nodes and, consequently, the development of wireless sensor networks (WSNs).